Top 10 Creators of TV Programming Today

Top 10 Creators of TV Programming Today

There’s a momentous trend happening in television today: The proliferation of the original series. From the big broadcast networks to streaming services, it seems every programming outlet is dedicated to creating an original episodic story that will engage viewers more consistently and intensely than even a feature film. This Top 10 identifies the most creative minds involved today, those who can turn a germ of an idea into a full-fledged season of quality, can’t-miss viewing. From highlighting a booming PBS audience to showcasing Sundance Channel’s newest series, RECTIFY and TOP OF THE LAKE, this Top 10 is all about a small-screen renaissance. Television as the “boob tube?” Not a chance.

10. Eric Kripke – SUPERNATURAL and REVOLUTION

Who would’ve guessed the writer of 2005 horror schlock BOOGEYMAN (skip it) would be the guy behind two successful TV series? Both of Kripke’s creations lean heavily on the timeless battle of good against evil, with a sci-fi bent: SUPERNATURAL follows two brothers set on the vengeful destruction of demons, monsters and, yes, boogeymen; REVOLUTION is the ‘what if’ scenario that emerges after all electrical and mechanical power disappears in the country and battle lines are drawn. SUPERNATURAL is now in its ninth season, with millions of ardent fantasy fans; the newer REVOLUTION has attracted the likes of Jon Favreau, who directed the show’s pilot.

9. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd – MODERN FAMILY

Good comedy writers can spend a career slogging through the sitcom muck, never nailing down that one, great series that captures the country. Long-time scribes (and producers) Levitan and Lloyd have bucked that convention by creating one of the most beloved network sitcoms of the past 20 years. MODERN FAMILY exaggerates life’s ridiculousness with non-stop, whipsmart wit and a tremendous variety of characters. And, remarkably, each episode ends with a note of familial love without pushing the mush. This is pivotal hit #2 for Lloyd, who executive-produced about a thousand episodes of FRASIER. (Okay, it was 182.)

8. Armando Ianucci – VEEP

The fictional political worlds created by Armando Ianucci are filled with incompetent idiots, butt-sucking sycophants and frustrated foul-mouthed lunatics. (Hey, just like the real world!) The creator of British hit THE THICK OF IT (which inspired IN THE LOOP) crams all that dysfunctional goodness into weekly half-hours of hilarity in VEEP, the chronicle of America’s all-time most ineffective Vice-President. Ianucci and team smartly let the grossly underrated Julia Louis-Dreyfus lead the charge in the title role, she of the crude curses, Lucille Ball-style slapstick and misplaced vitriol. Ianucci has the despicable political landscape down perfectly, with a style that doesn’t let up.

7. Ray McKinnon – RECTIFY

McKinnon may not have the producing experience of his peers, but there are reasons why Sundance Channel is behind his first-ever series, RECTIFY: It’s uniquely engrossing, challenging and unconventional. The veteran character actor (THE BLIND SIDE, Jeff Nichols’ MUD) examines the hometown return of a former death row inmate who’s been released after 19 years, thanks to a DNA evidence technicality. Across a six-episode arc, McKinnon asks “What does it mean to be free?” in this artistic, confident effort that may take him behind the camera more often.

6. Lena Dunham – GIRLS

Alternative pop culture’s current “it girl,” the 26-year-old Dunham (who raised eyebrows with TINY FURNITURE) has become one of the hardest-working women in television. With co-creator Judd Apatow, she’s created one of the harshest, most satisfyingly off-center shows on TV. In GIRLS, Dunham liberally exercises her penchant for stripping characters down to their odd fears and weaknesses while stripping off their clothes, too. It’s such a hot-button series that there’s an anti-Dunham backlash – they say she’s trying to be shocking, she’s overly reliant on nudity, and her characters are annoying. Hey, haters be hatin’.

5. Dick Wolf – The LAW & ORDER franchise, CHICAGO FIRE

Say what you will about the predictable, repeatable nature of his programs, but Dick Wolf has literally written the format for the modern crime hour. If you have watched any of Wolf’s five LAW & ORDER series (that includes LAW & ORDER: UK), you know how it will all go down, and Wolf makes sure that you do. The setup, the investigation, the roadblock, the reveal, they’re all done at particular times with a careful set of creative rules. But with consistently concise writing and surprisingly deep performances, it works. Just about every time.

4. Julian Fellowes – DOWNTON ABBEY

On Sunday evenings, social media conversation is sometimes dominated by the most unlikely of questions: You watching DOWNTON ABBEY or THE WALKING DEAD? The fact that a PBS program tempts the same people devoted to a violent, zombie nightmare is a testament to the power of Fellowes’ period piece. The Oscar-winning screenwriter (for GOSFORD PARK) has an uncanny ability to write story and dialogue that attract top actors (Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith), and can skillfully flesh out a hefty number of characters—in DOWNTON’s first three seasons, 18 speaking roles have appeared in 20 or more episodes. And all writing credits go to Fellowes himself.

3. Matthew Weiner – MAD MEN

It seems nearly impossible that Weiner could transition from producing a show as exceptional as THE SOPRANOS to creating one that’s often every bit its equal. Yet, Weiner has done it, guiding MAD MEN to be more than just a complex character study, an examination of gender psychology, and a paean to consumerism of days gone by; he has captured the zeitgeist, influencing everything from fashion trends to Facebook profiles. And with each passing season, Weiner carefully reveals more about the characters and the country, as ardent fans wonder just what that falling man in the opening credits is really all about.

2. Jane Campion – TOP OF THE LAKE

From the first episode of New Zealand-set Sundance Channel series TOP OF THE LAKE, it was clear that Campion was bringing a mesmerizing strangeness to the crime drama genre. This tale of a missing, pregnant 12-year-old, the detective on the case (MAD MEN’s Elisabeth Moss) and the evil that lurks in the midst has a persistently dangerous spontaneity, manifested in the frightening performance of veteran Scottish actor Peter Mullan. TOP OF THE LAKE reunites Campion, director of the Oscar-winning THE PIANO, with co-star Holly Hunter, who offers the type of comic relief we’ve seen in Campion projects before, playing the pseudo-philosophical leader of a group of emotionally lost women.

1. Melissa Bernstein and Mark Johnson – BREAKING BAD and RECTIFY

Okay, technically Bernstein and Johnson aren’t show creators. But as BREAKING BAD executive producers (with Vince Gilligan), they deserve props for developing the finest series on television. With tense danger, gallows humor, and the transformation of the malleable, generically named Walter White (the incredible Bryan Cranston) BREAKING BAD has emerged as a well-deserved point of obsession for fans. As Bernstein and Johnson help Ray McKinnon bring RECTIFY to Sundance Channel, their BREAKING BAD audience waits patiently—and slightly rabidly—for the next chapter in the Book of Heisenberg.